Ah, Torchwood. The Doctor Who spin off we all love to bitch about. Of course we love it because someone has at last produced a popular, after-the-watershed, British, science fiction, action series. Unfortunately, where everybody knows that deep down, Doctor Who is for the kids, we can forgive it for it's extravagent eccentricities...Torchwood is for Mummy and Daddy making the frequently barking plotting difficult to swallow. Season 1 was typical of this. Despite promises, season 2 was even more so.
Season 3 tries a different approach. Reduced from 13 to 5 episodes it tells of one alien invasion plot over a week. And by Shatner's Wig, it works! Having bad memories of the BBC's last alien takeover series, Invasion Earth, I was concerned the writers wouldn't be able to sustain one story over 5 hours. But they've apparently learned from their American counterparts with series such as 24 and Lost for inspiration, as the mini-series rockets along, right to the end.
The best aspect is it reminds one of classic british sci-fi of the 50's to 70's. The science. The army. The unseen monster. All are very Quatermass or even the original Doctor Who series, especially as it is serialised with cliffhangers at the end of each episode. The children centric plor reminds me of (the original) Village of the Damned and even Day of the Triffids in it's bleak, helpless to resist, alien monsters narrative.
Barrowman and Eve Myles are engaging as ever, while fellow colleague Jones is as lifeless as ever. The character stuff betrays Russell T Davis's writing being too silly and overtly gay throughout. And Torchwood is still prone to being batshit crazy. The rescue of Jack in episode 2 (I think) defies belief (an elite military group outwitted by a fat welshman and a bloke on a slow tractor is not that convincing). But it does deal with some interesting moral issues especially how our morality is tested when children are at stake.
With the recent budget cuts at the BBC and Russell T Davis's departure at Doctor Who, Torchwoods future is uncertain. However, with high viewing figures and a hugely exciting third series just aired, I'd like to see this back in one form or another.
1 comment:
Bloody hell! How good was that? Talk about compulsive viewing.
And dark...and grim...and disturbing. Jeez! The tone was far darker and more serious than previous Torchwoods, which in the past could never really decide what it wanted to be: serious sci fi? Quirky drama? Camp adventure? Silly monster of the week? It always struck me that with Torchwood Russell T Davies was looking to do a Whedonverse show as opposed to a Whoniverse show...something more akin to Angel…only sillier and camper. A show about an immortal guy who loves long coats, who has a troubled past and now leads a quirky team to keep a city safe from creepy monsters. It got to the point where they actually brought in Spike...I mean Captain John (James Marsters) as a cool Brit bad boy from Angel's...I mean Jack's past. I know that RTD is a Whedon fan and has gone on record saying that the style and success of Buffy and Angel strongly influenced the rebirth of Doctor Who and his subsequent creation of Torchwood. But RTD is not Joss. And Torchwood is not Angel. And nor should it try to be. Britain has a long and proud tradition of making great intelligent and socially relevant science fiction. From the stories of HG Wells to the dark dangers investigated by Professor Quatermass or described in the stories of John Wyndham. This is our heritage and what Torchwood should have always been aiming for. Finally, thankfully, this is the target that Torchwood now hits. With a bullseye.
Children of Earth is simply a great British sci fi tale. It’s loaded with social commentary and things to say about how we treat our kids and how human beings react under extreme circumstances. Not always well. It is also dark. Very, very, very dark. I couldn’t believe they had the balls to end the Frobisher storyline how they did. It was great and it was horrible. A good man who thought he was doing what was best for his country and his family pushed beyond the limits with no way out. Peter Capaldi deserves a lot of credit for giving a sterling performance as the noble civil servant. He’s arguably the ‘bad guy’ but he’s only doing what he thinks is right. What most people probably would do even if they like to think they wouldn’t. And then the way that the alien threat is neutralised. How harsh and bleak and cruel? Wow! No wonder Jack had to run away.
This five-part mini series approach works a lot better than the thirteen part episodes for Torchwood. It gives the story and the characters room to breathe and develop. It also helps that the team was pared down to just three plus help from a few outsiders. The lovely Eve Myles is still great and immensely likeable and watchable as Gwen. What’s his face who plays Ianto was ok. And John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness was about the best he’s been. He still oozes endless charm and charisma, but the campness has been reigned back some (due to the material) and Jack is a darker and more tortured character than ever giving Barrowman a chance to work out his acting muscles.
There are still some daft moments throughout as if RTD can’t quite let go of his yearning to make a silly romp, but luckily they are fairly few and far between and are massively outnumbered by the uber-dark and serious material. I have to say I was glued to every frame for five hours. I think I even gasped a couple of times as stuff unfolded on screen. Torchwood has finally grown up and embraced its true destiny. Well…mostly.
Wonderful stuff!
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